1. Field of the Invention
Commonly shoes are tied via laces threaded through a plurality of sequential apertures in the shoe which can be formed by eyelets. Conventionally, a single flexible lace is threaded through apertures centered within the eyelets (or hole if lacking eyelets) of the shoe, in a manner positioning both ends of the lace extending through the apertures in a top pair of eyelets (i.e., those in the eyelets that are farthest from the shoe's toebox) toward the outside of the shoe. These two free ends of the shoelace are then tied together to secure the shoe to the foot of the user. Both ends of the lace are generally fitted with rigid or semi-rigid aglets, which surround the respective laces at both distal ends. These aglets are engaged to provide some rigidity to the ends of the laces for easing the task of communicating the laces through the apertures in the plurality of sequentially positioned eyelets in the shoe.
When a new shoe is purchased, the user may sometimes have to initially position the laces through the shoes, by threading each of the laces through each of the apertures formed in the shoe itself, or in the plurality of eyelets of present. Even after the laces are joined to the shoes, the user generally has to tie the laces every time he or she puts on the shoes. This requirement for threading and tying the distal ends of each lace may be difficult tasks for children, people with disabilities, and people who suffer from arthritis and the like.
2. Prior Art
Many techniques and devices have been devised to simplify the act of securing shoes to a user's foot in order to eliminate or otherwise ease the requirement for lace tying. U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,285 discloses a shoe having an adjustable and flexible closure assembly utilizing separable fastening members having contacting, flexible gripping elements, such as hook and loop type mating fasteners in combination with an elastic instep-gore or elastic side-gores. The closure assembly includes an anchor strap having an opening to engage a fastener strap permitting the wearer to easily pull the uppers of the shoe inwardly and simultaneously to the precise desired tautness and fasten the shoe, using only one hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,983 discloses a shoe fastener for extending between cooperating pairs of eyelets of the shoe comprising: a flat resilient elongated member, and a pair of gripping members one covering substantially a different end of only one common surface of said resilient member and being bonded thereto along only terminal end parts of their lengths. The second parts of the lengths of said gripping members comprise an unbonded tab portions juxtapositioned to each other along the length of the resilient member. The ends of said resilient member include the gripping members when moved through an eyelet of a shoe causing the resilient member to separate from the associated gripping member along the unbonded portion thereof to form clamps for engaging the periphery of the associated eyelets of the shoe between the resilient member and the said second parts of the gripping members.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,293 relates to an improvement for tying devices which can be secured to laces particularly on shoes for holding the shoelace knot in place. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,293 employs a mechanism for securing a portion of the device to the shoe and enabling the device to be reused for securing a knot in place each and every time the laces are tied. In the embodiment disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,293, the invention also incorporates elastic or semi-rigid means for engaging the shoelace knot from opposed sides to impede the knot from becoming untied while simultaneously exposing the knot for view and maintaining the normal appearance of the bow.